Holiday stress has been replaced by new-year stress. All those projects, both personal and professional, that had been put on the back burner before Christmas, are now coming to a full boil. Stress has many physical manifestations, and its main targets are the neck and shoulders. This build up of muscles tension seems to create a barrier between the brain and the body, making it hard to concentrate and causing pain. If you are feeling stressed, or even just stiff in the neck and shoulders, it pays to move, stretch, and massage those areas.

To see five easy ways to release your neck and shoulders just read more

• Inhale lifting your shoulders toward your ears, taking three slow counts to raise them. Exhale and just let your shoulders fall. It is ever so nice to just give into gravity once and awhile. Repeat five times.
• Gently lower your right ear toward your right shoulder then slowly switch sides. Don't hang in any one position for too long, this isn't really a stretch — super-tense neck muscles don't like to be stretched. Just try to get your stiff and tense neck moving around. Repeat five times on each side.
• Exhale and squeeze your shoulder blades together by pulling bent elbows toward each other behind your back. This might feel like you are doing the funky chicken, but it is a great move for opening your chest.
• Nod your chin toward your chest, taking three slow counts to do so. Really isolate the movement so just the neck is moving; don't round the upper back. This move provides a stretch for the muscles in the back of the neck. Repeat three to five times.
• Take your left hand to your right, really tighten the muscle between your neck and shoulder joint (the upper trapezius) and squeeze the muscle like a sponge. Squeeze all the tension out. Repeat five times.

Still feeling stressed? Check out these other tips on how to relax.

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